What Year 4 addition covers
Year 4 widens column addition to four-digit numbers — 7611 + 4053, 3387 + 7445 — which adds a thousands column and, often, a fifth digit to the answer. The method is the one Year 3 introduced; what is new is the place value and the expectation that it is reliable, because Year 5 builds five-digit work straight on top. The statutory statement asks for columns “where appropriate”, so estimating first and checking with the inverse afterwards belong to this year as much as the algorithm does. Every sheet is A4, print-ready, and comes with an answer key.
Answers included — a separate marking page with every sheet.
Questions parents ask
What addition does Year 4 cover?
Column addition of numbers with up to four digits. It is the same written method Year 3 introduced with three digits, one column wider — so what is genuinely new is stamina and place value rather than technique. Year 4 is also where children are expected to estimate first and use the inverse to check afterwards, so a wrong answer is caught by the child rather than by the marker.
What changed from Year 3?
A column, and the expectation around it. Year 3 adds numbers up to three digits; Year 4 goes to four, which means a thousands column and totals that regularly pass ten thousand. The method does not change at all — line up the place values, add from the right, carry when a column passes nine — so a child who is fluent in Year 3 usually needs practice rather than teaching. What does change is that Year 4 expects the written method to be reliable, because Year 5 immediately builds five- and six-digit work on top of it.
The statement says “where appropriate” — does everything have to be in columns?
No, and the phrase is doing real work. The Year 4 statement asks children to add "using the formal written methods of columnar addition and subtraction where appropriate", which means recognising when a written method is worth the effort. 3000 + 4000 does not need a column; 3478 + 2659 does. A child who sets out every single sum in columns has learned a procedure but not judgement, and the deciding is part of the curriculum. These sheets deliberately draw both numbers from the full four-digit range so that columns genuinely are appropriate.
Are the answers included?
Yes. Keep 'Answers' ticked and a separate answer-key page is made with every sheet, so marking takes seconds. Every total is computed exactly and checked.
Do I need to sign up?
No. Set the sheet up, make it, then print it or download the PDF. There is no login, ever.